1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to dry materials for cleaning carpets, other textiles, leather, tile and mortar, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Various methods for cleaning in the dry state and the cleaning materials, therefore, have been developed and marketed widely in recent years. These methods and materials include, for example, floor sweeping composition as well as powdered cleaning compositions for floor coverings such as rugs, carpets, etc. Exemplary of such cleaning compositions are floor sweeping compositions such as are disclosed in Mills et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,953, which include a finely divided solid material such as sand, sawdust or salt, a wetting agent such as petroleum oil and an atactic propylene polymer. Such floor sweeping compositions generally are used to prohibit settled dust, dirt and fines from refloating in the air during the sweeping process, i.e., the wetting agent causes the finely particulate matter to adhere to the finely divided solid material of the sweeping composition. Cleaning compositions for carpets are exemplified by Froehlich et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,594, which discloses a powdered cleaning composition comprising solid polymeric urea-formaldehyde particles of 10 to 105 microns in size and a solvent such as water, hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, alcohols and mixtures thereof. Such a composition is generally distributed into a carpet and subsequently removed by a vacuum cleaner. Such a composition generally operates by an adsorptive mechanism wherein an equilibrium is reached, over a period of time, as to the distribution of soil between a carpet and the cleaning particles.
However, a need continues to exist for improved cleaning compositions.